


Mirror Reality

by Bunney



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-24
Updated: 2012-08-24
Packaged: 2017-11-12 18:24:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/494280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bunney/pseuds/Bunney
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco finds the Mirror of Erised.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mirror Reality

So concerned was he, for Harry Potter had found the Mirror of Erised, Albus Dumbledore didn’t realize that another of Hogwart’s first-year students had also discovered the bewitched mirror and its deceitful allure. Had he known or even suspected the temptation that the Mirror held for this young man, one who desperately needed a reality other than the one in which he was born, the Headmaster would’ve ordered the Mirror destroyed forthwith. As it happened to be, he didn’t, his full attention on the young Gryffindor student who was burdened with the savior of the entire Wizarding world.

He hid in the darkness offered by a recessed archway, the hood of his school robes raised to cover the reflected gleam of his platinum cap of hair. His lips curled in a comforting sneer, as he watched the Headmaster escorting that boy, Harry Potter, away. He waited with an almost preternatural stillness until they’d turned the corner, then he stayed hidden another five minutes to be sure they were well and truly gone. Crossing the corridor, he tried the heavy iron door pull, half-surprised that it turned easily beneath his hand. 

He slipped inside, casting a locking charm on the door. Not that it would necessarily discourage anyone determined enough from gaining entrance; any first-year worth a damn could unlock a locked door.

He knelt before the Mirror and gazed at his silvered refection; custom-tailored robes, green and grey House necktie knotted in a perfect Windsor, his pale face tense with anticipation. He waited impatiently for the Mirror to give him its secrets, his deepest desires.

Had anyone wondered, just what it was that Draco Malfoy so desired, no end of sinister predictions would be offered. Power, money, priceless possessions, gifts more exotic than a boy of eleven could hope to appreciate. And, had anyone known to ask the Malfoy heir himself what he most desired, he would’ve been hard-pressed to think of something that he didn’t already possess.

But, as the engraving above the mirror stated, _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_ , “I show not your face but your heart’s desire”,  
Draco’s fondest, most desperate wish was something he didn’t even know he’d been missing, until it was shown to him, leaving him with a feverish yearning for it ever since.

It took several long seconds, then the surface of the Mirror shimmered, shifted, unfolded around Draco and his grey eyes prickled with the sudden sting of tears.

The ghostly shape of his parents coalesced behind his mirror-form and he had to fight the urge to look over his shoulder, certain that if he did they would be standing solidly there, yet too frightened to turn his gaze for fear that the Mirror would snatch away the scene before he’d even had a chance to gaze upon it.

Time slipped away and Draco was unsure how long he’d knelt before the glass, minutes, hours, and eternity perhaps. He only knew that he could sit here until the end of his days, wrapped snug in the fiction of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy’s love, their tender touches, the beaming pride in their eyes; the reality of their indifference and disappointment fading with every beat of his heart.

 

It was the weekend, Sunday to be precise, before Draco could get away from the Slytherin common room and the fawning gazes of his classmates for long enough to visit the Mirror. It was after supper and he sent Crabbe and Goyle away, under the pretense of visiting the Library. He quickly climbed the stairs to the Fourth Floor and passed the Library doors and instead, slipped into the narrow corridor that would lead him to the Mirror’s secret room.

Ever on the lookout for Filch and his cat, Draco opened the door and quickly shut it behind him, casting the necessary locking charms. He was halfway across the room before he realized that the Mirror of Erised was gone.

With horrified awareness, he spun around, to see if it had been moved, but the stone room was empty save for himself. The reality of it hit like a bludger to the stomach and he fell to his knees. He crawled the last few feet, reaching out and tracing his fingertips in the dust left outlining the place where the Mirror once stood. Too shocked to even cry, he felt an anguish like nothing he’d ever felt before well up inside, crushing him, threatening madness. He lifted his face to the ceiling and screamed in fury.

 _Where was it? Where had it gone?_ Certainly it was Potter’s fault, he must’ve been seen by Dumbledore or one of the other professors or maybe Filch’s mangy cat. Maybe even Potter himself, just like him, wanting to selfishly keep anything good and wondrous in this miserable castle all to himself. 

His brief flash of anger faded and that black welling pool of desolation was back, seeping into him, through every pore like some insidious creeping virus, infecting any last cell of him that might’ve still harbored something bright and happy. 

Draco folded himself over, pressing his flushed cheek to the chilled stone floor, supplicating himself before an absent Mistress. Still, the tears refused to fall from his brimming eyes. He lay in that awkward pose until his knees ached and his face was stinging from the cold. Wearily, he roused himself from his stupor, his face a frigid, porcelain mask.

Rising to his feet, he carefully brushed his cloak free of dust, even licking the pad of his thumb to polish the solid platinum clasp. With one last, longing glance at the previous resting place of the Mirror of Erised, Draco left the room and his dream of a devoted, loving family behind.

~fin~


End file.
